


Curtain

by koolmcr



Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: Bisexual Female Character, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Head Shaving, Lesbian Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:40:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28990845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koolmcr/pseuds/koolmcr
Summary: "Whoa, what were you up to last night El? What happened to your hair?""I cut it." Ellie slurs, muffled.
Relationships: Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 62





	Curtain

The dirty mirror splotches Ellie's dark reflection as she composes herself, splashing water on her face by the candlelight. She should really clean it. She spits on her shirt and rubs it on the mirror. The splotches become streaks. Frowning, she runs her hand through her hair, and the phantom fingers start to ache.

She frowns deeper and sets her hand back on the edge of the sink. The moments pass as she tries to see into her eyes, her soul. Tries to see the limp auburn hair that she can't keep seem to keep out of her face. It's too short right now to put up and its too stubborn to stay behind her ears.

It's driving her a little crazy. The locks of hair touch her forehead, her cheeks, the back of her neck. The mirror is too fucking dirty. The flicker of the candle is making her eyes hurt. Her lost fingers hurt somewhere in the Pacific water. She rushes the medicine cabinet open and finds a pair of scissors. Its blades are too stubby; kind of like her fingers, actually. Dina usually uses them to cut bandages for Ellie when she gets a little scraped up hunting, or their son when he's being a klutz. But Ellie pinches some hair and opens them up, and soon a snip radiates quietly as a dark red wisp falls into the sink.

The sound, the action gives her some relief. So she does it again. And again. Again. Until the sink has more hair than the top of her head. She lifts the candle up to and inspects her reflection. It looks more than a little fucked up and uneven. But Ellie smiles slightly, looking into her forest eyes and seeing some light. She balls up the hair as best she can and tosses it in the trash can before softly padding back to her bedroom. Dina moans a little bit at the rustle of Ellie slipping under the covers next to her. She kisses the dark haired girl on the forehead and moves her tattooed arm over her, pulling close.

* * *

Ellie wakes to Dina sitting up, but she moves her back towards her love and burrows her face into the pillow.

"Whoa, what were you up to last night El? What happened to your hair?"

She barely processes her wife's words. A grumble comes out.

"Huh?"

"I cut it." Ellie slurs, muffled.

Dina pulls back the covers and exposes the skinny and small body, laughing just a little.

"Baby, it looks terrible."

"I don't care, lemme sleep."

Rolling her eyes, the dark haired girl tucks her wife back in. She pushes off the bed with a groan. "I'm gonna start taking care of the sheep. Can you get JJ up in an hour and make breakfast?"

"Awrigh."

Ellie gets a kiss on the cheek before Dina leaves the room. She tries to get back to sleep, but the words _what happened to your hair_ force her to get up and stumble to the bathroom. The early morning light greets her sleepy face as it gets a little wider eyed. Man, it really did look terrible. Random tufts of hair stick up, some shorter than others.

She sighs and uses the toilet before turning and walking back into her room, throwing a hoodie on and making sure the hood covers her head, before going down the stairs to start on cooking.

Eggs are pretty hard to fuck up. Hopefully Dina's alright with that for the fifth day in a row. Ellie's not a very creative cook.

The scrambled meal sits on three plates while she heads back up the stairs. Her studio had moved down into the den with Dina's sewing table, JJ taking the old space for himself. She had to pair down on her shit, but it was worth it when his gap tooth smile beamed at the small bed and toy box in the sparse room a few months ago. The three fingered hand raps on the door before opening it.

"Potato, time to get up."

He breathes through his mouth as he sleeps. Ellie huffs, walking further into the room and stirs him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Spud, it's 7 AM. Let's go."

"Guh. Mama, no."

"Nope. I already made breakfast. It's gonna get cold and we'll both be sad if you eat a cold meal."

JJ sits up and rubs his eyes, swinging the blanket off of him.

"You gotta pee before we go down?"

"No."

"Did you pee your bed last night at all?" Ellie lifts the covers to inspect.

"No! I'm notta bed wetter!"

She chuckles. "Okay, okay. Come on, son." Her hand ruffles his hair.

"Stop that!" He moves to pull the hood down and give her a taste of her own medicine, but Ellie's quick and wrangles him into her arms. He squirms and laughs as she carries him down the steps.

"You know, if you ate all of your breakfast sometime then I wouldn't be able to do this anymore. Just sayin'."

He sticks out his tongue as he sits down at the table.

"Lemme call Mama in so she can eat with us," Ellie moves to the back door and opens it, "Hey, Dina! Come eat!"

"I'm coming! Give me a second!"

She sits to join her son, her wife stretching the screen door open.

"Oh come on, El. Scrambled eggs, again?"

"What's wrong with that? JJ likes them. Right, spud?"

"Yeah!" He smiles, taking Ellie's side.

"Yup. Majority rules. Eggs it is."

Dina plops down and sighs. "I'm gonna have to trade some embroidery work for a cookbook one of these days. Your Mama needs some spice in her life, bud."

"Hey, my life with you is plenty spicy." Ellie pecks her lips to Dina's, pretending to be burned afterwards. "Oof, gonna need some milk for that one."

They eat and talk, JJ talking about how weird his dreams were. Dina wondering what to name the new lamb. Ellie's hood sits on her eyebrows.

"Mama, how come your hood's up like that?"

"Just feel like it today." She shrugs.

"I heard that she got into a _fight_ last night with a monster with big sharp claws," Dina plays.

"What?! What kinda monster? Like a bear?" JJ's eyes are wide, ketchup smears the corners of his mouth.

"Yup. The biggest bear in Wyoming."

He turns to Ellie with a kick in his motions, excited. "Why was he here?"

She rolls her eyes and gives Dina a stern look before playing along with them.

"He was hungry for potatoes. He'd been to Jackson looking for some, but didn't find the kind he liked. So he came here."

"He was gonna _eat_ me?!" Her son looks like he wants to cry.

"No, but he was gonna eat our potatoes outside. So I stopped him. But he got me a little bit, first." Ellie runs her better hand over his hair, trying to smooth out the over excitement she caused.

"Stop! Don't touch my hair!"

She stops.

"Sorry, Potato. Not feeling it, today?"

He crosses his arms and pouts.

"No."

"What's the matter, bud?" Dina's eyes twinkle a little sadly at her son.

"It's too long!"

It's barely an inch long.

"I don't know if I can cut it any shorter, buddy. I'm sorry."

JJ continues to pout and growls. Dina tries to think.

"Oh, maybe we can go into town and see if we can trade for a shaving razor and cream? What do you think, El-"

Their son interrupts, "Whassat?"

"You know how some of the old men have whiskers and some don't? That's what they use to cut them off and have smooth faces. Like Grandpa." Dina turns to Ellie who's fiddling with her fingers and stubs, "Maybe you could use some too, babe. You know, because of the bear attack?"

"What did the bear _do_?"

Ellie sighs and takes the hood down to a gasp from the young boy.

"I'm gonna beat him up!"

"Sweetheart, he's long gone. I kicked his butt into next week."

He sighs big, "I'll do it then!"

JJ's funny. He makes Ellie giggle. "You don't gotta defend my honor, spud. What do we have to do today, D? Maybe we can go after we get done chores." That makes her son groan. But there's not a lot to do, so they've packed up and started walking before noon.

* * *

"Oh my! What brings my favorite grandson 'round these parts?" Robin lifts JJ into the air. "You're growing like a string bean!"

Dina hugs him when he sets JJ down, who goes to hug his grandma. "Hey Robin. We're here to talk to some traders, actually. Do you mind watching him for an hour?"

"Mama's gonna get something to shave my whiskers!" He exclaims from Deiji's arms.

Robin turns to him with a laugh, "You're that grown up, huh? Seems like only yesterday you were a baby."

Ellie stands awkwardly in the doorway. Jesse's parents are nice. They treat her as a part of the family. But sometimes she doesn't really feel that way, like now. She feels like an outsider, an other. But Deiji won't let her slink into the wood without a few words.

"How're you doin', Ellie? Things at the farm okay?"

"Yup."

"Those fingers doing okay?"

"Yup."

Robin rubs at his neck at Ellie's curtness. "Y'know, I really wish you'd come back into town again. I miss this guy. Plus there's other kids around..."

Dina stops that thought. "We're okay. Don't worry about us."

Jesse's parents don't press as the couple give their goodbyes and head towards the market. Ellie's hood might as well be glued to her head.

The town's bustling as usual. It's always made Ellie kind of nervous. Uncomfortable. There's too many people. As they walk by, Dina greets everyone who calls out to them. She holds her wife's hand. "You not feeling it today either, El?"

"No, I'm okay. Just a lot of people."

"Do you want to go back to Robin and Deiji's? I can find what we need."

"I got this, babe. Don't worry."

Dina moves a hand to her shoulder. "Okay, just let me know."

They find a trader carrying some razor blades and a handle, she explains to them how to use it. She has some shaving cream, too, and Ellie's not proud at what they have to trade to get it. They collect JJ from his grandparent's and get back to the farm as the sun sets.

"It's gonna be too dark to do this tonight. We'll do it tomorrow, okay bud?"

He frowns at his mother's words and starts to protest. Ellie hears his whines over the record player going as she cuts up some carrots for a stew. It makes her feel guilty.

* * *

Dina practices putting a blade in the handle a few times as they eat eggs again the next morning. She nicks herself on it and puts her finger up to her mouth.

"Shit, D, are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, just a little cut." She runs up to the bathroom to tend to herself, leaving her wife and son at the table. JJ starts to blubber.

"I don't wanna get cut."

"It'll be okay spud. Mama's gonna make sure that won't happen."

"But _she_ just got cut!"

"Hey, she's not gonna let that happen to you. You hear? She loves you."

He gulps and a few tears slip out of his eyes. His face is red. Dina comes back down the stairs with a piece of cloth over her finger.

"Alright, all better. Hey, what's the matter bud?"

"He's scared that the razor's gonna cut him," Ellie offers.

"Sweetheart, don't worry. That's not gonna happen. I'm gonna go so gentle, you'll barely even feel it."

That makes him break out into sobs.

"I-I..don't w-want...to!"

Ellie gets up to rub his shoulder and he turns into her, his small body shaking. She hugs him.

"Shh, shh. JJ, calm down. It'll be okay. We don't have to do it."

"B-but...I don't w-want my h-hair!"

Dina's arms wrap around the both of them. "I know, baby. I know it's scary."

The hood falls off of Ellie's head in the hug, exposing her badly cut hair. She has an idea.

"Hey, why don't I go first? Mama'll use it on me and you can see if you wanna do it still."

JJ sniffs, rubbing his snotty nose on her shirt. "Okay."

"Okay. Come on, let's clean up."

It takes about a half hour to get the bathroom all set up, JJ sitting on the shut toilet seat while Dina and Ellie stand at the mirror. Dina tries to cut the auburn's hair closer to her head with actual scissors this time.

"You know, people used to shave the hairs off of their legs and armpits with these razor things."

"Yeah, that's weird. What's the point? It seems like a waste of time and resources."

"I dunno. I remember my mom saying something about how she did it because boys thought it was gross."

JJ speaks up, "I don't think your legs are gross!"

It makes the woman chuckle. "Thanks, bud. I appreciate that."

"Welcome!" His legs swing and hit the toilet every other second.

Dina steps back to look at her work, "Okay, El. I think that's as short as I can go with scissors. You ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

"Can you move off the toilet, JJ? Mama's gotta sit on it so I can get a good angle at what I'm doing."

He hops up and moves back, sitting on the edge of the tub. Swinging his legs again.

"Alright. So Ada said I had to put this," she holds up the round container full of cream, "all over your head in an even layer and get the razor wet. Then, uh...I just, go. I guess."

"Sounds good." Ellie rubs the shortness on her head. Her wife opens the container and dips her hand in, coming out with a white glob. She glides her hand over the dark red points until it's everywhere. It makes JJ laugh when she's done, his Mama looking like an alien.

"Okay...you ready, babe?"

"Again, as I'll ever be."

That gets Ellie a small smack on the shoulder.

"Alright, smart ass. Let me know if I'm going too rough. I'll stop if you bleed, okay?"

Ellie gives her intense eyes. "Let's go."

Dina dips the razor into the pail of water in the sink and starts. It feels cold on Ellie's scalp, but it scratches an itch in her heart. Her son can't take his eyes off of her. She widens her eyes and lifts her eyebrows at him, sticking out her tongue.

The minutes pass and her head feels lighter. The froth of the cream mixes into the water when Dina dips into it, along with particles of her hair. A crooked smile plays on her lips. It takes a little longer than she thought, but eventually her wife goes over her head one more time with quickness and throws her a towel.

"Alright, I think I did an alright job. What do you think?"

Ellie rubs the towel over her head. Her scalp feels like a snake. The mirror is still smudged with lines when she sees her bald head in it. There's a little cream still behind her ear. On instinct, her left hand comes up and runs through- no, _over_ , her head. The nubs of her last two fingers feel the smoothness without pain. She smiles big at herself.

"I _love_ it. Oh my god, Dina."

"Yeah? I did good, huh?"

JJ slams up from off the tub's edge, bouncing. "Lemme feel!" And Ellie bends down to let his small hands touch her bare scalp. He giggles.

"It feels cold and slimy!"

"Well, I probably gotta take a bath and get all the gook off," she turns to her reflection in the mirror, not quite believing it to be true, "it looks good though, right?"

"Yeah!"

"And Mama didn't cut me, did she?"

The boy investigates as she bends back down to give him a better look. "No."

"You still scared?"

"No! I wanna go next!"

He hops up on the toilet and wiggles his butt on it, ready to go. Dina laughs.

"Hold on there, speedy. I gotta clean up the razor and get some more water. Give me a few minutes."

He groans, but Ellie entertains him while her wife cleans up their makeshift bathroom barber shop. Pretty soon, his head is smooth like Ellie's. He rubs his head to hers and squeals at the sensation. Slimy skin on slimy skin. Dina rubs both of their crowns with each of her hands, "My two bowling balls."

* * *

Ellie cannot stop feeling her head. It's fucking awesome, even if the hours in between the shaving and going to bed have left it with a little bit of a sandpaper texture. Dina reaches out to feel it too.

"Y'know, it's pretty sexy."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. It looks good on you. Makes your face look even more beautiful. Plus you have freckles on your scalp too, babe."

That makes Ellie blush.

"I knew you had them everywhere. But _everywhere_?" Dina cocks her eyebrows at her. "I'm gonna have to add these to the count."

With her wife kissing at her bald head, Ellie feels warm. Sane. Okay. Like _herself_.

**Author's Note:**

> bald is beautiful. why not? the urge for a bald head is always there, man.


End file.
